Tory high command rallies to defend welfare changes

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Senior figures from across the Conservative Party rallied in defence of the
Government’s welfare revolution yesterday as they signalled that a “culture
of dependency” in pockets of Britain must be brought to an end.

The former Tory leader was responding to a challenge from David Bennett, a
market trader who

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Iain Duncan Smith said he that could. The Times asked three people — given the money on Monday morning — how long it would last

Louise Downham, mother: money runs out on Tuesday morning

Zoe may not yet be two but she commands most of her mother’s expenditure. "I just can’t see how I would get down to £50 a week," said Louise Downham, 30, who lives with her daughter in Clapham, South London.

She could stop buying coffee and reduce her £4 budget for lunch, but her weekly shop, travel and cleaning costs come to £53.

Mrs Downham works from home, but she takes Zoe to playgroups and nursery. While her outlay is well below the national average for a household with a child, she still spends £193 a week on basics. She is considering returning to a full-time office job, but that would add £73 a day for childcare.

Celia Bower, pensioner: money runs out on Wednesday afternoon

Celia Bower, 79, loves gardening. She doesn’t go to the theatre or cinema as often as she would like, so a few trips to the garden centre every year are her most lavish expense. She keeps food costs down because her local butcher gives her a good deal and she mostly eats vegetables. Despite taking a frugal approach, a budget of £53 would only last until about midday on a Wednesday.

"Iain Duncan Smith makes me so angry," she said. "Most of the Cabinet are millionaires and they just don’t understand what it’s like for the rest of us."

Mrs Bower walks past her local supermarket in Friern Barnet, North London to the cheaper alternative three miles away. "Then you’ve got to carry it all back," she said.

She enjoys her free bus pass but sometimes drives to see family and her 107-year-old mother, which takes her petrol bill up to about £5 per week. "Maybe I could get by for £53," she said. "But I’m lucky because I’ve paid off the mortgage and I’m still active. Some of my friends would have no chance." Her average basic costs are £123 per week.

Simply travelling to work would eat up virtually all of the £53 a week for Dr Richard Halsey, 31, a registrar in the oncology department at the Royal Free Hospital in North London.

"Most of the doctors here work 60 to 80 hours a week, so it’s difficult to spend much money going out," he said. "Just to do our job that sort of limit on spending would be a major constraint."

By an average Tuesday afternoon, he would have burnt through all £53; after buying a travelcard, a couple of lunches and chipping in for the essentials such as cleaning products, bread and milk in the house he shares with friends. "I think Iain Duncan Smith is being a tad unrealistic," he said.

Dr Halsey estimated that his spending on clothes and recreation came in well below the national average calculated by the Office for National Statistics, but his basic weekly expenditure still totalled around £200 — almost four times Mr Duncan Smith’s figure.